Reinforcement clip

ABSTRACT

In the preferred form a reinforcement clip is composed of a small sheet of spring metal having a substantially flat central rectangular portion provided with an aperture. Spring arms extend from the center of opposite edges in the form of three-fourths of a triangular loop with the ends of the arms extending through the aperture and provided with outturned projecting ends adapted to engage the opposite ends in the opening of the sheet to be reinforced. The aperture of the clip receives a peg provided with a wire locking arrangement. The edges of the clip along side the spring arms are bent to form reinforcing flanges.

United States Patent Davidson Mar. 14, 1972 [54] REINFORCEMENT CLIP3,314,465 4/1967 Bien ..l5l/4L75 72 inventor: John w. Davidson, 416 s.Main Street, ggggig Z1322 5 Lewisburg, Ohio 45338 [22] Filed: Nov. 28,1969 Primary Examiner-Reinaldo P. Machado I Assistant Examiner-Wayne L.Shedd [21] APPI' 880575 Attorney-William s. Pettigrew, Frederick M.Ritchie and Edward P. Barthel [52] US. Cl. ..-...287/189.35, 24/73 BC,85/5,

85/80, 287/20 R [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl ..F16b 5/07 In the preferredform a reinforcement clip is composed of a [58] 523: 3fig f gkz gfg gggfsmall sheet of spring metal having a substantially flat central 85/80rectangular portion provided with an aperture. Spring arms extend fromthe center of opposite edges in the form of threefourths of a triangularloop with the ends of the arms extend- [56] Referenm Cited ing throughthe aperture and provided with outturned project- UNITED STATES PATENTSing ends adapted to engage the opposite ends in the opening of the sheetto be reinforced. The aperture of the clip receives a 2,342,832 2/1944Borchers ..l5ll4l.75 X peg provided with a i locking arrangement Theedges f 2,464,405 3/1949 Knaut, 237/20 R X the clip along side thespring arms are bent to form reinforcing 2,640,672 6/1953 Bedford......287/20 R X fl 2,746,111 5/1956 Chvosta ..24/73 HS 3,084,962 4/1963Feuerbacher ..287/20 R 2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Patented March 14,1972 INVEN'IUR. jM/I [X flay/a190,?

ATTORNEY REINFORCEMENT CLIP Walls which are made of very thin metal orrelatively weak nonmetallic materials such as plastics, papers and othercompositions, frequently are not strong enough in the area around theapertures for fastening and supporting devices intended for heavy loads.While there have been attempts to solve this problem in numerous waysnone have achieved sufiicient simplicity in design and construction orease of application and none are sufficiently low in cost to provide awholly satisfactory solution.

It is an object of this invention to provide for the area surrounding anaperture in a wall or sheet, a reinforcement clip having unusuallyresilient spring arms by which the clip can be readily attached to theedges of the aperture in the wall or sheet. I

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein preferred embodiments ofthe present invention areclearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view through a reinforcement clip embodying oneform of my invention applied to a thin plastic wall containing aregistering aperture and receiving a peg;

FIG. 2 is a right side view of FIG. 1 as indicated by the arrows 22 inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line 3 3 ofFIG. 2;and

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the reinforcement clip, wallportion and peg.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a thin plastic wallportion 20 containing an aperture 21 which is provided for the purposeof receiving a peg 24 which is intended to assist in supporting a shelfor other device upon the wall 20. The peg 24 includes a central flangeportion 26 provided with a two arm projection 28 raised on the concealedside thereof. The supporting peg portion 30 extends from the exposedsurface side of the flange 26 for the purpose of supporting a shelf orother device. Extending from the opposite side of the flange 26 is ananchoring pin portion 32 which is provided with a U- shaped wire lock 34in which the yoke of the U-shape extends through a transverse aperture36 in the anchoring pin portion 32. Both peg portions are generallycylindrical. The peg 24 has embedded in its plastic material a hair pinshaped reinforcement 54 which is looped around the yoke of the wire lock34 and extends therefrom along the axis of the peg.

Inasmuch as the plastic wall sheet 20 is relatively thin and flexibleand does not have a great strength there is a need to provide some formof reinforcement of the plastic sheet 20 around the aperture 21. Thisneed is satisfied by the spring clip comprising the subject matter of myinvention which is readily attached to the wall 20 through the aperture21. This clip 38 comprises a sheet portion having a substantially squarecentral portion 40 provided substantially with a rectangular aperture 42extending lengthwise between the top and the bottom of the clip 38.

According to my invention, to provide a simple means ofattaching thisreinforcement to the plastic wall or sheet 20, I provide a pair ofintegral spring arms 44 arranged to grip the edges of the aperture 21for clamping to the wall or sheet 20. These spring arms 44 extendoutwardly from the upper and lower edges of the square shaped portion 40and are first provided with a circular bend 46 extending through about120 to 125 forming an acute included angle of about 60. The spring arms44 extend from the bends 46 to the second bends 48 which are alignedwith but spaced from the top and bottom of the aperture 42. The bends 48extend through about 45 to 55 and the remaining portion of the armsextend from the bends 48 through the top and bottom of the aperture 42and project on the opposite sides where they are provided without-turned end projections 50. The spring arms 44 therefore extendthrough a substantially triangular shaped loop which is aboutthree-fourths of the complete loop or circle and with the adjacentportion of the central square part 40, form two complete similartriangles extending in opposite directions from the upper and lowerportions of the aperture 42. By virtue of their loop shape these springarms are quite resilient and are arranged to provide a spring forcewherein the upper acts upwardly and the lower acts downwardly with bothalso acting outwardly adjacent their projecting flanged edges 50.

These clips 38 are readily fastened on one side of the wall 20 by merelypushing the spring arms 44 through the aperture 21 in the wall 20 andthereafter releasing them so that the projections can grip the top andbottom edges of the rectangular aperture 21 as is illustrated in FIG. 1.The square-shaped area 40 of the clip may be provided with ribs orvarious forms of stiffening. However, I prefer to bend the edges of therectangular area 40 along side the two spring arms 44 for providingflanges 52 along side the outer portions of the spring arms 44. Ibelieve that this clip is well adapted to reinforce the wall 20 aroundthe aperture 21.

After the clip 38 is so applied to the wall 20 it will readily receive apeg support or any other type of fastening or supporting device whichmay be required; The peg 24 is applied by pushing the anchoring pegportion 32 through the apertures 21 and 42 and then rotating the entirepeg until the ends of the U-shaped wire spring lock 34 ride over theside edges of the aperture 42 so as to cause the portion of the wall orsheet 20 around the aperture 21 to be clamped between the square centralportion 40 of the clip 38 and the flange 26 upon the peg 24. Theprojecting portion 28 upon the flange 26 is shaped to enter into theaperture 42 and to fit against the opposite sides of the aperture 42 toresist any further turning movement of the peg 24. The U-shaped springmember 34 is of substantially heavy stiff wire which acts as a holdingstrut between the surface of the clip and the aperture 36 in theanchoring portion 32 so as to provide a firm holding arrangement whichanchors the anchoring portion 32 of the peg 24. This provides a simple,strong, reliable, inexpensive fastening and supporting arrangement welladapted to reinforce walls and sheets which are not well adapted tocarry heavy loads and con sequently require reinforcement to make themsuitable for supporting or anchoring pegs and other types of supportsfor walls.

While the embodiments of the invention as herein disclosed constitutepreferred forms, it is to be understood that other forms might beadopted.

lclaim:

1. In combination with a domestic refrigerator inner plastic linerhaving an elongated rectangular opening, a reinforcement clip forreinforcing an area of said liner around said opening and including asmall sheet having a substantially flat central portion adjacent theouter side of said liner, said central portion provided with an aperturefor receiving a peg or the like having independent anchoring means toassist in supporting a shelf on said liner, said clip aperture being inthe form of an elongated rectangular aperture extending lengthwisebetween the opposite top and bottom edges of said clip central portion,said rectangular aperture located on the symmetrical axis of said clipcentral portion and having a longitudinal dimension exceeding thelongitudinal dimension of said liner opening; a pair of oppositelyoriented identical upper and lower spring arms having parallel sideedges extending outwardly from said opposite top and bottom edges,respectively; said spring arms curled about a first circular bend havingan included angle of about 30 and a second circular bend having anincluded angle of about 60 and having a first flat section between saidbends, said spring arms aligned on the symmetrical axis of said cliprectangular aperture; said spring arms being of a width slightly lessthan the width of said clip rectangular aperture; said spring arms firstflat sections extending from the first bend inwardly substantially intoalignment with said clip aperture and thence being curled sharply aboutthe second bend and having second flat sections extending toward theclip aperture and having end portions extending through the clipaperture provided with out-turned projecting flanged edges adapted toengage opposite edges of said liner opening; said out-turned projectingflanged edges adapted to engage opposite edges of said liner opening;said out-turned projecting flanged edges extending a predetermineddistance so as to terminate at a point inwardly of the adjacenttransverse edge of the clip aperture; said spring arms extending throughsubstantially three-fourths of a complete triangular-shaped loop toprovide a spring force wherein the said upper spring arm flanged edgeacts upwardly and said lower spring arm flanged edge acts downwardlyagainst the upper and lower edge portions of said liner openingrespectively, said upper and lower spring arms also acting outwardlyaway from said liner to resiliently adjust in a direction normal theretoand thereby firmly position said clip flat central por- P0405) UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3, 649,059Dated March 14, 1972 IDVGI'IEOIIQ'S) John W. Davidson It is certifiedthat error appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

I 'i'he Assignee General Motors Corporation, Detroit, .1

Michigan should be added.

Signed and sealed this 13th day of February 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.,FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents

1. In combination with a domestic refrigerator inner plastic linerhaving an elongated rectangular opening, a reinforcement clip forreinforcing an area of said liner around said opening and including asmall sheet having a substantially flat central portion adjacent theouter side of said liner, said central portion provided with an aperturefor receiving a peg or the like having independent anchoring means toassist in supporting a shelf on said liner, said clip aperture being inthe form of an elongated rectangular aperture extending lengthwisebetween the opposite top and bottom edges of said clip central portion,said rectangular aperture located on the symmetrical axis of said clipcentral portion and having a longitudinal dimension exceeding thelongitudinal dimension of said liner opening; a pair of oppositelyoriented identical upper and lower spring arms having parallel sideedges extending outwardly from said opposite top and bottom edges,respectively; said spring arms curled about a first circular bend havingan included angle of about 30* and a second circular bend having anincluded angle of about 60* and having a first flat section between saidbends, said spring arms aligned on the symmetrical axis of said cliprectangular aperture; said spring arms being of a width slightly lessthan the width of said clip rectangular aperture; said spring arms firstflat sections extending from the first bend inwardly substantially intoalignment with said clip aperture and thence being curled sharply aboutthe second bend and having second flat sections extending toward theclip aperture and having end portions extending through the clipaperture provided with outturned projecting flanged edges adapted toengage opposite edges of said liner opening; said out-turned projectingflanged edges adapted to engage opposite edges of said liner opening;said outturned projecting flanged edges extending a predetermineddistance so as to terminate at a point inwardly of the adjacenttransverse edge of the clip aperture; said spring arms extending throughsubstantially three-fourths of a complete triangularshaped loop toprovide a spring force wherein the said upper spring arm flanged edgeacts upwardly and said lower spring arm flanged edge acts downwardlyagainst the upper and lower edge portions of said liner openingrespectively, said upper and lower spring arms also acting outwardlyaway from said liner to resiliently adjust in a direction normal theretoand thereby firmly position said clip flat central portion against saidliner area for reinforcing same irrespective of the thickness of saidliner, said upper and lower spring arm second flat sections beingsubstantially parallel in their secured position providing spacingtherebetween substantially greater than the diameter of the peg suchthat said spring arms secure said clip on said liner independently ofthe peg anchoring means.
 2. The combination as defined in claim 1 inwhich a set of stiffening flanges extend in said small sheettransversely to and on opposite sides of each of said spring arms.